THRU THE BIBLE EXPOSITION

The Books Of The Chronicles: God's Preservation Of His Davidic And Levitical Covenants

XLV. Relying On God's Word For Encouraging Insight

(2 Chronicles 33:21-25 with 1 Kings 13:1-5)

Introduction: (To show the need . . . )

Last Sunday, one of our members told me that we believers need all the encouraging Biblical insight we can get to offset the troubling and confusing errors that bombard us from today's world. His point is readily illustrated:

(1) Rich Lowry's column, "The left's riot blame-shifting" (Republican-American, September 2, 2020, p. 10A) blamed Democrats for the ongoing urban riots, that "(t)he violence overwhelmingly has tormented cities governed by Democratic mayors and city councils for decades . . . If the cops are violent and corrupt, it's on them. If they are such miserable places to live that they are powder kegs, it's on them. If they can't maintain basic order, it's on them."

However, the same paper's September 1, 2020 editorial ("A cause for all," Ibid., p. 8A) blamed both political parties, claiming, " . . . (I)f America is to break free of this cycle of violence and destruction . . . Democrats and Republicans" must "stand together against it," for "both sides are trying to play the unrest to their respective benefit."

We may then ask, "Who is to blame for the relentless riots and chaos that plagues our major cities?"

(2) A letter by Thomas Dorsey of Naugatuck in the August 28, 2020 Republican-American, p. 8A, complained, "When I read that . . . Attorney General William Tong wants to force Eversource Energy and United Illuminating to pay for food their customers lost as a result of power outages . . . from Tropical Storm Isaias . . . I almost fell out of my chair. What has happened to us as Americans? Have we lost our ability to take care of ourselves? We've become entitled babies who are unable to tolerate the slightest disruption in our pampered lives."

However, a letter by Donna E. Lorusso of Waterbury (Ibid., September 1, 2020, p. 8A) reacted to Mr. Dorsey's letter, claiming, " . . . I almost fell out of my chair at Mr. Dorsey's statement blaming people for their food losses."

We may then ask, "Who is to blame for the losses many experienced in the outages from the storm Isaias?"

(3) Many evangelicals have been stunned by the fall from grace by Jerry Falwell Jr. and his wife Becky due to questionable practices by Mr. Falwell himself and the immoral affair of his wife. The story, "Liberty University to probe Falwell tenure as president" (Ibid., p. 9A) reported that the board of Liberty University claims it is making "a wide-ranging inquiry that will include financial, real estate and legal matters," and that the board "was 'committed to learning the consequences that have flowed from a lack of spiritual stewardship by our former president.'"

This all too common story of another evangelical leader's fall from grace bothers and confuses many believers.

Need: So, we ask, "With the troubling and confusing errors that bombard us from the world, what is the answer?"

I. The record of Judah's king Amon who followed Manasseh's reign is humanly a very discouraging one:

A. Amon followed the initial evil ways of his father Manasseh, practicing extensive idolatry, 2 Chron. 33:21-22.

B. However, contrary to Manasseh's decision to humble himself under trial and to turn back to the Lord, Amon never learned the lessons of his father's trials, but kept committing more and more trespasses, 2 Chron. 33:23.

C. God had promised in the Davidic Covenant to punish sinful Davidic kings with the "rod of men" (cf. 2 Samuel 7:14), and since Amon had not learned from Manasseh's trials of his own need to repent, God was intolerant of Amon's sin and let even his own servants conspire against Amon to kill him in his palace, 2 Chronicles 33:24.

II. This discouraging record of Amon's reign in Judah may seem too hard to fit into a good God's eternal plan -- too confusing for us to understand -- until we view GOD'S insight in HIS WRITTEN WORD:

A. Around 290 years before Amon's death, a prophet from Judah had travelled north into Israel and predicted that a king of David's line in Judah named "Josiah" would one day sacrifice the bones of false priests on the false altar at Bethel that had been set up by king Jeroboam I, 1 Kings 13:1-2. (Bible Know. Com., O. T., p. 514)

B. As a sign that this prophecy would be fulfilled, that unnamed prophet from Judah claimed that this altar would be split apart and its ashes poured out, a prediction that was immediately fulfilled, 1 Kings 13:3-5 NIV.

C. Josiah was the son of Amon, so to fulfill God's prophecy of his desecration of that altar, Amon had to exist and reign as Judah's king regardless of his great sin and his failure to repent of it!

D. In addition, to get Josiah to the throne, God moved Judah's common people regardless of their monarchial dictatorship to slay the men who conspired against Amon and to put "Josiah" on the throne! (2 Chron. 33:25)

Lesson: Though Amon was so evil that God let him have men conspire against him to kill him in his own palace, the Lord LET Amon live and reign that Bible PROPHECY might be fulfilled in the rise of Amon's son Josiah. The Lord then remarkably used a highly unusual democratic uprising by the people of Judah to sustain their dictatorial monarchy that Josiah might come to the throne and fulfill Bible prophecy!

Application: (1) May we trust in Christ Who died as our Atoning Sacrifice for sin that we might receive God's gift of eternal life, John 3:16; 1 Corinthians 15:1-11. (2) For encouraging insight in today's troubling and confusing world, may we read and apply Scripture, especially its prophetic sections, for edification from the Lord!

Conclusion: (To illustrate the message . . . )

We view Scripture for insight and clarification on the troubling and confusing issues noted in our introduction:

(1) On the rioting and chaos in major cities over racial issues, 53 years ago, FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover told Congress: "'Communists seek to advance the cause of communism by injecting themselves into racial situations and exploiting them, to intensify the frictions between blacks and whites, to prove that discrimination against minorities is an inherent defect of the capitalist system . . . In fact, almost 50 years of Communist Party activity in the United States . . . has contributed to disrupting race relations in this country.'" (Testimony, Hoover, House Appropriations, Subcommittee, Feb. 16, 1967, p. 619 as cited in Brannon S. Howse, Marxianity, 2018, p. 178-179)

Today's racial riots are nothing new -- Marxists have fueled them for 100 years to promote their ideology!

Such unrest is typical of the Mini-Great Tribulation we before noted that Revelation 3:21 predicted would occur in our era of Church History. We before learned that God would allow oppressive leaders to rise to drive people to seek answers in Bible teaching churches. The racial divide in society was also predicted in Daniel 2:43 for the end-time Revived Roman Empire, and we are already witnessing its existence in many Western countries!

Our part then is to heed Revelation 3:14-21 in fellowshipping with the Lord and heeding His expounded Word that we might nurture people who come our way in this predicted era of unrest with God's edifying Bible truth!

(2) On the blame for losses incurred during the Tropical Storm Isaias, (a) since Revelation 3:21 implied we would face a Mini-Great Tribulation, natural calamities are to be expected as God uses them to direct people to repent of their waywardness and turn back to Him. God is then allowing various calamities to occur in various parts of the world much as He will do to a far greater extent in the future Great Tribulation in order to call people to repent.

(b) However, the influence of Marxist ideology has been leading many people toward socialism and reliance on the government instead of exercising personal responsibility to address their own needs. We then do well to heed Proverbs 6:6-11 and learn from the ant to take personal responsibility in dealing with our own needs relative to severe storms (as follows): (i) The ant has no chief, officer or ruler, but it is self-motivated to care for its own needs, Pr. 6:6-8. (ii) The ant is also opportunistic, preparing its food in summer and gathering it in harvest when food is available and the weather is warm enough for the ant to be able to move instead of postponing its gathering work until winter when it cannot move well, Pr. 6:8. (iii) When the ant can thus work efficiently, it does so relentlessly. Its small size limits the ant's ability to gather much food on any single trip, so it makes many trips each day to gather a huge store of food by the end of summer, Pr. 6:6, 9-11. (iv) So, instead of relying on others for our living needs, we like the ant should be self-motivated to take advantage of opportunities for gain and relentlessly work to address our own needs. (v) Applied specifically to handling the threat of electricity outages in storms, we should steadily work and save to acquire batteries, flashlights, food, generators, gasoline, propane burners and filled propane tanks, water, etc. before a big storm arrives! We should also keep backup equipment like generators in good condition in readiness for outages!

(3) On the fall from grace by Jerry Falwell Jr. and his wife, what has all too often occurred with other evangelicals, we before learned that Christ predicted in our era in Revelation 3:17 KJV that evangelical Christians would be (a) "wretched," meaning controlled by their sin nature; (b) "miserable", meaning worldly; (c) "poor," meaning not living by faith in God; (d) "blind," meaning being spiritually blind to God's truth and (e) "naked," meaning failing to remain faithful to God's assigned ministries without getting corrupted by unbiblical associations. The Falwells have erred in at least some of these realms, what is becoming public knowledge by the investigation of Liberty Univesity's board. However, according to Revelation 3:14-18, many evangelical Christians are in the same spiritual state as the Falwells, and if they do not repent, their spiritual failings will also inevitably become exposed!

For this reason, Jesus Christ calls today's evangelical believers to "buy" from Him trials in life to wean them away from living by their sin natures, away from worldliness, away from faithlessness, away from blindness and away from unbiblical associations by relying on the Holy Spirit, Revelation 3:18 et al.! [We have extensively dealt with this whole Revelation 3:14-22 portion of Scripture in material that is available on our Church web site.]

May we trust in Christ Who died as our Atoning Sacrifice for sin that we might receive God's gift of eternal life. For encouraging insight in today's troubling and confusing world, may we view Scripture, especially its prophetic sections, and thereby be instructed and edified by the Lord!